The Kids Are Alright
by DeliriousMess
Summary: Prompts following the kids of Duke Crocker and Jennifer Mason, as well as Audrey Parker and Nathan Wuornos. The kids names and concept belong to Compactor on here.
1. Chapter 1

"Daddy. Daddy!" a small voice whispered, pulling Duke out of his sleep.

He sat up quickly, looking around in a brief panic from Jennifer to finally looking at the source of the voice. His three year old daughter looked at him with wide eyes, clinging to her t-shirt and looking nervous.

Duke leaned forward and placed a hand on her little shoulder, "What's wrong, baby girl, what happened?"

"I had a bad dream." came the quiet reply, slightly slurred from sleep.

"Well lucky for you," Jennifer answered, sitting up behind Duke, "Your Daddy and I know just what to do for a nightmare, don't we?"

Duke grinned at Jennifer before turning it to their daughter and picking her up, "Hot chocolate should definitely take care of this."


	2. Chapter 2

Prompt: Their first kiss (between Lauren Crocker and Ethan Wuornos)

It was their first date after they had convinced Mr. Crocker that they could be trusted to go on a date without friends or some other supervisory body going along with them.

They'd gone to a movie, sitting in the back so that they could make fun of it and talk to each other during it without bothering anyone else. A formality, in retrospect, seeing as they had laughed so hard at what they were saying that they were constantly being glared at by the people in the further up rows.

It'd been a great date, Ethan had even walked her to her door, only going so far as to hold her hand the entire walk home. The porch light was on as they got closer.

"They must be expecting you," Ethan sad, glancing at the house.

Lauren rolled her eyes, "I'm surprised Dad didn't turn on every light in the house."

Ethan laughed, "Maybe he's starting to trust me?"

Lauren smiled back, "Or Mom's managed to distract him."

Ethan gave her a look of mild horror as he caught her meaning, making her laugh at him and lightly shove him, "Oh gross that was _not_ what I meant!"

Ethan let himself be shoved, smiling at her, before grabbing her other hand in his and looking at her, "I, uh, I had fun tonight."

She smiled nervously at him, "Me too."

There was a pause, both of them waiting for the other to make the next move, only for Ethan to clear his throat nervously and pull his hands away. He stood straighter as he buried his hands in his jacket pockets, "I, uh, I should get–,"

She didn't let him finish his thought as she grabbed the lapels of his jacket to kiss him.

The front door banged open and Duke Crocker's voice yelled, "Hey!"

Ethan was pretty sure he'd never run so fast in his life.


	3. Chapter 3

Prompt: But tiny Kate complaining because Lauren has her own birthday and she has to share hers with Tom. Kate and Tom are the younger twins of Duke and Jennifer, Lauren is the oldest.

It was the week leading up to Lauren's ninth birthday, and Kate had been particularly, and increasingly, crabby as the preparations for Lauren's birthday party began to wind down and speed up all at once.

Jennifer was at her wit's end and Kate had been obstinate one time too many despite her twin brother's best attempts at maintaining peace (but really, how much peace can a five-going-on-six year old maintain?), resulting in Kate being regulated back to her room until her father was to return home. It was a thin excuse, and they both knew it, but Kate was only too pleased to be sent to her room and away from the overbearing birthday-ness of the day.

It was here that Duke found her, sitting on her floor, playing with some of her favorite mismatched figurines, and talking to herself. Jennifer had explained to him how Kate had been anything but helpful all day and that she knew she should've gone to talk to her sooner, but: "Do you know how many phone calls I've had to make today? I swear, next year she's just getting a cake and only three friends over and that's it."

Duke sat next to Kate as she continued giving voices to the figurines in her hands. He let her reach a pause in her story before speaking, "Mom tells me you haven't been very helpful today."

Kate just shrugged back.

"Do you want to talk to me about it or do you want to spend the rest of the week in your room?"

Kate shrugged again, "I like my room."

"Kate."

Kate pouted for a moment before saying, "I want my own birthday."

Duke gave her a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"Lauren has her own birthday, but I have to share mine with Tom! So I don't get a party just for me or presents! I have to share it with Tom!"

Kate dropped her toys and pulled her knees up to her chest, feeling as if she was saying something that was going to get her in more trouble but not sure why. She waited for her father to say something to what she'd said.

After a moment, he wrapped an arm around Kate's shoulder and pulled her close to his side. She leaned into him, but didn't let go of her legs as he kissed the top of her head.

"Did you know that Lauren and I had a talk similar to this last year?"

Kate shook her head.

"She told me that she wished she had someone to share her birthday with like you and Tom do. She told me that she thought it was so fun that you and Tom had someone else to spend the whole day with." Duke watched her face carefully as he spoke. Kate stayed quiet, just listening.

Duke sighed, "But if it bothers you so much, Mom and I will figure out a day just for your birthday, would you like that?"

After a moment, Kate nodded and Duke grinned at her, "Okay. So do you think you're ready to come downstairs and help your mom with your sister's birthday?"

She pouted at her dad for a moment, only to break it in a smile back at him and nodding.

He kissed her head again, "That's my girl."


	4. Chapter 4

Prompt: Aiden/Kate + things you said when you thought i was asleep Kate is one of Duke and Jennifer's kids, and Aiden is her Guard bf.

"Kate?" Aiden whispered into the dark. Kate woke at the sound, but for some reason chose not to say anything in response to see what he wanted. If he was trying to tell her goodbye, she didn't want to acknowledge it was happening. If it was something else…well she hoped it would be something else.

"Katie? You awake?" Aiden whispered again when she didn't reply. He shifted closer to her and wrapped an arm around her waist and he placed a gentle kiss to her shoulder. She still didn't move to show him she was awake, she was still too unsure of what he could want to talk about at three in the morning. She knew from experience that good news never comes at three in the morning.

"You must still be asleep." He said, much more quietly now, apparently not wanting to wake her now that he knew (or believed) that she was asleep, "That's okay. I don't know how you'd respond to this if you were awake anyway, but I just–actually, you know, I know _exactly_ how you'd react if you heard me. You would punch me in the jaw if you heard me right now, I know it."

She smiled despite herself, but tried to keep her breathing even as he continued, chuckling slightly, "It'd be worth it though. You think you're more trouble than your worth but you're wrong. You are so worth it. And you're not even that troublesome–especially given where we live. You're–"

He paused there, long enough for Kate to start thinking that he'd changed his mind or even that he fell back asleep. She was just starting to drift back off herself when she heard him speak again, "You are so strong and, and _radiant_ , and one of these days I'm going to be brave enough to tell you these things when you're awake and then I'll be brave enough to tell you that I don't care _who_ knows about us–that I just want _you_."

Kate had stilled to the point of her breath barely coming out of her. She wanted to roll over and kiss him, to tell him that she wanted the same, but before she could gather her own courage enough to do it, Aiden just sighed behind her again, "But it's not tonight."


	5. Chapter 5

Prompt: A sleepless night

Jennifer's gotten very good at going nights without sleep.

There were the nights when she was a child where nightmares would rattle her awake and into her parents room.

There were the sleepless nights in the weeks immediately following her father's death, and at certain points during the later months too–she'd wear his sweater and sit in his armchair all night, listening to her mother's sobs in the vents. She remembered thinking that the house had never been so painfully silent as it had been during those nights.

(She'd do everything in her power to never sit in the silence at night again after that–she was too afraid she'd hear her mother crying again)

College and grad school invited sleeplessness of a different kind and one that she actually enjoyed. Then there were the nights taking care of her mom through the Chemo, the nights emptying out her family home into a storage unit, and most recently the nights where the voices wouldn't grant her rest.

There were points where she wondered if she'd ever sleep normally again.

If you asked her when she was in a more romantic mood, she'd say that she only finally got to sleep through the night when she shared a bed with Duke.

But you usually have to catch her when she's drunk. Or when she's trying to get Duke to roll his eyes and smirk at her in that way he does when he's so very charmed by her.

There had been other sleepless nights when she'd tried to help with the Troubles and Audrey, but once she was back and everything was said and finally over, she thought she'd be able to sleep normally again.

And then they had kids. She knew there would be sleepless nights once they welcomed their first baby into their home, but the twins had been a new challenge in and of themselves. Duke would stay up with her to help; two heads being better than one and all, but he'd always fall asleep long before her.

As the children got older, she was finally able to fall into a more normal sleeping rhythm, because for once, her life was something close to normal.

She should've appreciated it more.

When she first realized what she was "hearing," she thought maybe it was just the television, or that Kate was listening to the radio instead of sleeping. When a cursory check of the house and kids showed that that wasn't the case, she realized what was happening.

And refused to admit it.

To avoid that possibility, she started doing things around the house at night. She'd bake, she'd clean, she'd work–she'd do anything to keep her hands and mind busy and away from what she thought she was hearing. She was able to keep it up for a few nights before Duke found her.

"Jen? What're you doing up?" he asked, rubbing his eye with the heel of his hand as she buzzed around the kitchen.

"Just, uh, making the kids lunches for the week. Go back to bed." She said quickly, not slowing her pace in anyway.

Duke surveyed the growing number of bagged lunches on the counter, "Week or month?"

She shrugged, not looking at him as she started to pull food out from the fridge, mumbling to herself about needing to clean it out. He watched her for a minute before moving to stand behind her. She didn't seem to notice his movements, so when he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back to lean into him, she let a small noise of surprise.

He kissed her shoulder, "You haven't been sleeping lately and I know you've been trying to hide it from me."

She tensed in his arms, so he added, "I'm not mad, I just–Talk to me. Please."

She placed her own arms over his around her waist and tried to keep her voice from cracking as she said, "I don't want to be crazy again."

He tightened his grip on her, "You're not–"

"I mean, I know I'm not, but I don't want to take those pills again, and I don't want to have that noise in my head and I don't want Tom to have to go through this and I just–I don't know if I can do this again," She said in a rush, voice breaking until she was left sobbing in his arms.

He turned her around so that he could hug her properly and rocked her gently as she cried, mumbling into her hair, "I'm sorry, Jennifer. I'm so fucking sorry."

She shook her head into his shoulder, "It's not your fault, Duke. It's no one's fault. I'm–" she let out a slow breath, "I know it's gonna be okay–or that we'll figure it out. I just–"

He placed a hand on the back of her head and ran his fingers through her hair, "Jen you don't have to ever apologize about having a break down because of Haven–this is way more than you signed up for."

She pulled back a little to smile at him, "Who knew getting into bed with a pirate would be so much trouble?"

He smirked at her, "Didn't your mother warn you about wayward men on boats?"

She just chuckled before he pecked a quick kiss to her lips, "Are you okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Yeah I'm okay. Now."

"Will you come back to bed and stop making the kids enough food to survive a nuclear holocaust?" Duke asked, looking behind him to the tower of meals on the counter.

She laughed, "I think I can. Or I can least try to put off the rest of my nervous cooking to the daylight hours."

"I'll accept that." He smiled and kissed her again.


	6. Chapter 6

Prompt: Remi complaining about the cold and Ethan just shrugs like, "Can't feel, don't care" and she just starts touching his face and just keeps saying, "Can you feek /now/? The only thing you feel is /me./" Remi and Ethan=imagined Naudrey kids belonging to Compactor. The reason this is funny is because Ethan has his father's Trouble and Remi has her mother's…exceptionality. Also Remi's a little shit so laughs can be had by all.

Remi stomped her feet on the sidewalk as they waited for the school bus–the fact that her _older_ brother still didn't have his license and also still didn't have a car so he could drive them to school when it got cold continued to be a point of contention between them–and she said loudly and in a sing-song voice, "It is so fucking cold!"

Ethan shrugged next to her, annoyingly underdressed in a slightly thick jacket and a pair of thin gloves. Remi, on the other hand, was bundled in at least two thick jackets, a hat, two scarves, and thick gloves. Even with the gloves, however, she felt as if she wasn't wearing anything at all.

"Is it that bad? I can't tell." Ethan said, smirking slightly at her.

Remi glared at him, "How did you even get out of the house like that? Mom's gonna throw a goddamn fit if she finds out."

"Yeah," Ethan conceded, mockingly scowling at her, "But that's _if_ she finds out, half-pint."

"You willing to pay for my silence, you ass?" she asked, smiling at him. He rolled his eyes at her and she chuckled to herself, mumbling about how he couldn't afford her anyhow.

They went back to their previous silence for a few moments before Remi groaned again and stomped her feet to try to get the feeling in her feet, "Where is the damn bus–it is so damn _cold_."

"Don't feel, don't care." Ethan sighed again.

She scowled at him before pulling her gloves off and pushing them into his face, "What about _now_ , tough guy? Bet you can feel _this_."

Ethan batted her hands away from him, "Oh Jesus–get your fuckin' hands outta my face! God how do you still have feeling in your hands those are icicles! What is your problem?"

"Having you for a brother!" Remi yelled back, still trying to touch his face as the bus pulled up.


End file.
